“You look radiant.” I snuck my hand around my wife’s tiny waist and tugged her to my side in a move that almost felt natural. She looked up at me with grateful eyes.
“So does that mean you’re getting married too?” Echo asked, using her champagne flute to motion toward Andromeda’s straight, short, white dress.
“Oh. Um. Of course not.” Andromeda shrugged and beckoned a waiter with a snap of her fingers.
My pain threshold was discovering a new level.
“I’m actually just coming off a ridiculously painful annulment that I’m simply not ready to discuss yet,” she said as she took a glass of champagne from the waiter’s tray and then waved him off like he was a nuisance. “But at least I’m single, right? I mean, who wouldn’t want to be single when there are so many excellent specimens of manhood around?” She batted her eyes at me, then glanced over at Logan and Sawyer.
My warning bells went off. Loudly.
“Who’s looking for excellent specimens of manhood?” Michael Carlisle, trust-fund douche extraordinaire, entered our little circle with three of his friends. Guys looked like they belonged in an investment banking club or some shit. A kernel of annoyance grew in my chest.
“Michael!” Andromeda tilted her head and looped her arm through his. “I was just saying that I’m glad I’m single, seeing as my baby sister decided to marry one of Charleston’s prized Reapers.”
“So she did,” he muttered, raking his gaze down Persephone appreciatively. “Caught us all off guard with this little move, Sephie.”
She stiffened, and my hand tightened at her waist to keep from punching those roving eyes out of his head.
“Yeah, we all thought it would be you and Carlisle celebrating eventually,” one of his friends agreed. “Imagine our surprise when this invitation appeared.” His eyebrows rose.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Andrew. You knew about Sephie’s indiscretion the morning after when it hit the press, just like the rest of us,” Andromeda chided.
“I’m not sure I’d call getting married an indiscretion,” Persephone countered as the quartet started a new movement.
“Oh, I didn’t mean to ruffle your feathers, honey.” Andromeda shot another pity glance at Persephone. “God knows I’ve had my share of impetuous liaisons with incredible men that just didn’t…work out. Not that I’d been bold enough to wear white to a post-wedding-night engagement party, but I always did love that spirit of yours!” Her grin dripped with saccharine sweetness.
Holy shit. I’d rather be on the ice, where we battled with sticks, boards, and bodies, than in this ballroom. This outright combat via sharp words and fake smiles was bullshit.
“Are you serious?” That little kernel of annoyance transformed to rage in a heartbeat. Persephone was still a virgin. Not that any of them knew that. Hell, I was still grappling with that fact, myself. I wasn’t one of those assholes who prized virginity in their women, and the logical side of my brain listed her untouched state as reason number four billion and eight that we’d stick to rule number five. I’d never been with a virgin, and sure as hell wasn’t about to make her my first by being her first. No fucking way.
But the primal side of my brain? Holy shit did it have a field day knowing that no other man had been inside her. That I’d be the man she compared every other lover to…not that I was ever going to make love to her. Make love?
Let’s call that little slip of the tongue reason four billion and nine I wouldn’t ever know what this woman looked like when she came.
“What? She knows I meant no offense.” Andromeda assured me in the sweetest voice imaginable. “We’re all so happy for you, Sephie. Though, Andrew’s right. I think we were all a little shocked that you ended up with a hockey player.”
Both Sawyer and Logan’s eyebrows hit the ceiling.
“Holy shit,” Echo muttered, then drained her champagne.
“And why exactly would that shock you?” Persephone challenged. “After all, I run the charitable foundation for the Reapers, so it’s only natural that I would befriend them. I’ve known these men for almost two years now.”
“Well,” Andromeda looked me over with a ravenous glimmer in her eyes.
I was going to need a shower to scrub away her intentions.
“We can all see why you’d get to know them. I mean, of course, their bodies are perfect. They’re professional athletes, but the fact that he’s also gorgeous must have been quite the enticement to spend a little more time at the office, hmmm?”
“I’m standing right here,” I said slowly.
“That is not why—” Persephone started.
“And don’t you look good doing it?” She gave me a little shoulder-shrugging grin. “Honestly, Michael, you didn’t see this coming from a mile away?”
“We’ve met,” he answered, clearing his throat, then facing Persephone. “Though I can admit, I thought you’d fall for one of us.” He arced his glass in front of him, as if she should have chosen someone from her own social circle.